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Topic: Salads for the non-salad eater? (Read 7982 times)

I've been trying to eat more salads for dinner, and only have a couple of good recipes. I've never been terribly fond of just greens and dressing. What are some of your favorite salad recipes or ingredients?

Does it have to include lettuce? Because I'm having a craving for Three Bean Salad these days. It's easy and quick.

It's not really the recipe for the real thing, but what I usually do is get cans of 3 different types of beans (or more - who cares if it ends up being 10 bean salad?!) - garbanzos, green beans, kidney beans, whatever strikes your fancy. Put all of them with some vinegar (I'm partial to white balsalmic these days), salt and pepper. Best to let it sit a while in the fridge (even a few days!) to let the flavors meld. But, mine usually doesn't last that long!

I've been trying to eat more salads for dinner, and only have a couple of good recipes. I've never been terribly fond of just greens and dressing. What are some of your favorite salad recipes or ingredients?

Do you like Cucumbers? A great recipe I adapted from the Best of Bridge series of cookbooks.

This is always a hit when I make it and it's the most requested salad recipe I make. If I make it once, I'm always asked to make it again. It also keeps for a couple days and is even better. The cukes get a little softer the next day, but the flavour is awesome.

Sibby

Cucumber-Onion SaladThinly slice one whole cucumberThinly slice 1/2 of a red onionFinely chop some fresh dillDress with red wine vinegar, a mild oil and salt & pepper.Tastes best if let to sit for an hour or more before serving.(If you use the slicing blade of a food processor, this salad takes less than 3 minutes to make)

(I have no problem with the above bean salad recipe, I just like to add lots of veggies to make it more healthful; more veggies=more vitamins, etc)

Dress with oil & vinigar or try this:In a blender or food processor, combine, 1 roasted red pepper (the kind that comes in a jar), 1 clove garlic, 2 seasonsed marinated artichoke hearts, 2 or 3 sundried tomoatoes (instead of adding them to the salad), 4 or 5 [jarred] jalepenos slices, olive oil and a mild vinegar.Not only is it tasty, but you've just added a whole extra serving of vegetables to your salad!

Steam some fresh asparagus until just tender, then shock in ice water to stop it cooking and chill. Combine the spears with some fresh diced/sliced tomato, bell pepper, whatever you like, and dress with a vinegrette dressing.

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Sideshow Mel

One of my favorite salads to make includes fresh spinach, mandarin orange slices, and dried cranberries (and occasionally chopped walnuts, thinly sliced red onion, and/or grilled chicken). I toss all the ingredients with a citrus-based dressing, although lately I've been using Lighthouse brand pomengranate-blueberry vinagrette (not sure if it's a local brand or not).

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lovinAZ

One of my favorite salads to make includes fresh spinach, mandarin orange slices, and dried cranberries (and occasionally chopped walnuts, thinly sliced red onion, and/or grilled chicken). I toss all the ingredients with a citrus-based dressing, although lately I've been using Lighthouse brand pomengranate-blueberry vinagrette (not sure if it's a local brand or not).

This salad is good with homemade dressing of equal parts balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, and olive oil.

I also like cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, avacado and/or a little hard boiled egg, peas, a few spiral noodles, together with a little bit of oil & vinegar (or whatever dressing you prefer). It's good over spinach as well.

I don't eat lettuce salads any more unless I'm out. Spinach salads have won my salad heart -- they're tastier (I like spinach) and have way more nutritional value than lettuce.

One of my favorite salads to make includes fresh spinach, mandarin orange slices, and dried cranberries (and occasionally chopped walnuts, thinly sliced red onion, and/or grilled chicken). I toss all the ingredients with a citrus-based dressing, although lately I've been using Lighthouse brand pomengranate-blueberry vinagrette (not sure if it's a local brand or not).

I make this kind of salad a lot - so good! My favorite dressing for it is Braswell's Creamy Vidalia Onion.

Grill a boneless, skinless chicken breast and cook up some pasta. Cut up the chicken, mix it with the pasta and add pesto. Chill it until you're ready to eat it. At that point, cut up cherry tomatoes and mozzerella cheese and mix those in.

I like the vinegar salad with lemon juice instead of vinegar and no sugar or oil and lots of dill and a bit of garlic - it comes out like a sour pickle.

Asparagus and salmon salad - poach the salmon, cook asparagus until just done, chill, flake the salmon and chop the asparagus and add some finely diced onion and dress with olive oil, lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper. A bit of a luxury most places, but both salmon and asparagus are ridiculously cheap where I live.

You can do the same thing with random vegetables. I can't get good lettuce easily, so I'll make lettuceless salads - chopped onion (white or green), red or green peppers, snow peas (aka mange tout), celery, carrots, mushrooms, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, etc, cut into bite sized pieces. Olives, crumbled cheese or pinenuts go well too. You can dress it with storebought dressing, homemade dressing or just olive oil and balsamic vinegar (I do that, with a grinding of fresh black pepper).